For a long time, the banking industry has been regarded as a male dominated industry. Although men are still the main body in the overall proportion, the power of women is also gradually rising in recent years.
According to the latest data of choice, among the 1125 executives of 41 A-share listed banks, the number of female executives is 197, accounting for 17.51%. This proportion is not high, but it has increased greatly in the past two years. Song Qian, managing director of Hudson’s recruitment business in China, told Nanfang finance all media that two years ago, the proportion of female executives in listed Chinese banks was less than 10%.
Although the proportion of female executives is not high, the proportion of female practitioners in the banking industry is not low China Construction Bank Corporation(601939) 2020 annual report disclosed that the proportion of female employees was 54.23% The proportion of female employees in Agricultural Bank Of China Limited(601288) is 45.3% Bank Of China Limited(601988) ‘s female employees account for more than 60%.
foreign banks have nearly 50% female executives
Among all types of banks, the proportion of female executives in foreign banks is generally higher, with an average of nearly 50%. The reporter learned that HSBC’s female employees in China account for 65% of the total employees, and female executives account for 47% of the total executives. Standard Chartered China has more than 70% female employees and nearly 50% female managers. The proportion of men and women in the middle and senior management of Citigroup China is 50 / 50.
Song Qian said that foreign banks will put the proportion of female employees and female executives into the KPI assessment of the company, especially the proportion of female executives. Sometimes in recruitment, foreign banks will even directly say that our board members also need a female employee.
Lin Yuhua, CEO of Citibank China and President of Citibank (China) Co., Ltd., said: “multiculturalism helps enterprises create competitive advantages and bring stronger toughness, more yuan thinking and more comprehensive talent skill combination to our team.” Citigroup China recently promoted senior executives of several departments to managing directors (the highest level in the enterprise), of which 60% are female leaders.
HSBC is also concerned about the growth of women at the beginning of their career. More than half of the management trainees recruited by HSBC China each year are women. In addition, in terms of career development, HSBC launched a number of career development projects and leadership improvement plans for female employees every year to help female talents at different levels improve their way of thinking, achieve skill development and prepare for higher-level leadership roles.
However, in recent years, song Qian has made great progress in the recruitment of male executives from Chinese funded banks. In terms of gender equality, song Qian has also put forward the demand for male executives in recent years. Generally, women retire earlier and tend to be younger female managers in terms of age.
city commercial banks and rural commercial banks have a higher proportion of female executives
Choice statistics show that among A-share listed banks, the average annual proportion of female executives in urban commercial banks and rural commercial banks is 21.52% and 21.48%; The proportion of state-owned banks and joint-stock banks was 11.82% and 12.02%.
Among large state-owned banks, Bank Of China Limited(601988) has the highest proportion of female executives, 20.00%; Among the joint-stock banks, Hua Xia Bank Co.Limited(600015) has the highest proportion of female executives, 26.92%; In urban commercial banks, the highest proportion of female executives is Bank Of Beijing Co.Ltd(601169) , reaching 41.18%, which is also the highest proportion of female executives in all banks; In ABC, the highest proportion of female executives is Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank Co.Ltd(002807) , 35.71%, second only to Bank Of Beijing Co.Ltd(601169) .
State owned banks often give more awesome benefits to women workers. In 2021, the Bank Of China Limited(601988) labor union work department prepared the guidance manual for Bank Of China Limited(601988) female workers’ care, encouraged all walks of life to integrate the rules and regulations for the protection of female workers, and also established a caring trusteeship class for employees’ children to alleviate the practical difficulties of employees.
Song Qian told reporters that the division of female executives is particularly obvious. Generally speaking, there are more men in the financial front office business department, and female executives often come from middle and back office positions, such as audit, compliance, human resources, etc. This is mainly because the front office business needs to maintain customer relations, and the nature of the work is more sales oriented, which has obvious male advantages.
At the same time, song Qian also pointed out that the promotion opportunity of the front desk is relatively high, because it is closest to the core business of the bank, and it is easiest to give full play to personal talents and obtain promotion opportunities. There are relatively more male employees at the front desk, which partly explains why bank executives are mainly male.
Song Qian stressed that in the bank’s executive recruitment, the standards are unified, and there is no distinction between men and women. Always look at professionalism. Second, look at experience, including years of employment, leadership, etc.
However, she also found that in the workplace, women do not have the courage to shoulder heavy responsibilities as men, and they are less brave to stand up and express their views. Men tend to be more proactive than women in the face of opportunities. Women need to do more in these areas.
Song Qian believes that male and female executives have great differences in management styles due to gender differences, and female managers have their unique advantages. She found that female executives in the financial industry are not as “strong women” as imagined, but more masculine. On the contrary, compared with their male counterparts, they are the same in terms of professional level, and have more empathy, stress resistance and multitasking ability.
